


A State Like This

by viewfromthe34thfloor



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:46:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viewfromthe34thfloor/pseuds/viewfromthe34thfloor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Beca's relationship with Jesse falls apart, Beca reaches rock bottom. Nothing can pull her out of this slump - not music, or class, or even the Bellas - until Chloe decides that an intervention is in order. Can Chloe succeed in getting Beca back to her usual self - or does Beca have something else in mind?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A State Like This

It was the persistent buzz of the door intercom system which roused Beca from sleep; the noise was shrill, angry, and it awoke her from her nap on the sofa. Blearily, she stumbled through her living room to the hallway, where she grabbed the phone to the door intercom, not even glancing at the video-screen which showed an attractive redhead with her thumb pressed against the buzzer. “Hello?” she asked wearily. “Who’s there?”

By the time Beca had buzzed Chloe into the building, and found her keys to unlock the front door, there was no time to actually get dressed, or make an effort to tidy the shit-tip which was her flat. Instead, she stood in front of the hallway mirror and tried to tame her hair a little, despairing at the dark circles under her eyes that she knew Chloe would be sure to mentally note. The big issue with being heartbroken, she thought to herself, was that everyone thought they knew what you’re going through, when in fact what they see is just the tip of the iceberg.

Beca opened her front door and leant against the doorframe, waiting for the elevator to reach her floor and deposit Chloe back into her life. It had been months since Beca had last seen Chlo, and this was an unexpected visit. After the Bellas had won the ICCA’s, the academic year came to a close surprisingly quickly. Assignments, finals and post-graduation choices had taken up the vast majority of the time of the seniors, but Chloe and Aubrey had still made an effort to keep the Bella gang together for as long as possible into the summer holidays. Aubrey managed to work something out with her contacts and secured the girls a short a cappella tour across Europe. They’d spent three weeks giving performances at colleges and competitions across the Atlantic, culminating in a starring role in an a cappella festival in Scotland in August. Those three weeks were a bittersweet memory for Beca - for every wonderful day spent with her closest friends she could recall, there was the aftershock pain of how Jesse had been screwing her over the whole time.

Oh, Jesse. Just the thought of their ill-fated relationship made Beca feel sick, and it was because of this that she was dreading seeing Chloe in the flesh. She didn’t want Chloe to look at her with those concerned eyes, judging how much weight she’d lost and how she couldn’t help but hunch into herself whenever someone was talking to her. The last time she’d seen Chloe and Aubrey, the two older girls were about to get on a plane from London directly to New York, where they’d decided to relocate to after graduation. Beca and the rest of the Bellas were catching a later flight which would take them back to Atlanta, and it wasn’t until after the awkward hugs and last minute advice from Aubrey and Chlo that Beca realised that she didn’t know when she’d next see her two a cappella mentors. But then, she had been desperate to return to Barden and campus, to catch up with her boyfriend and tell him all of the stories from their time on the road and to hear about his internship at a film production agency.  She had no idea quite how much she’d wish Chloe and Aubrey were around in the months to come.

The elevator doors opened and Chloe blew into Beca’s flat like a whirlwind; pulling her travel suitcase into the bedroom, dumping her sunglasses onto the hall table and engulfing Beca into a one-armed hug all at once, whilst at the same time chattering non-stop. It was only as Beca ushered Chlo into the living room - filled with clutter and trash, and the blanket that she’d wrapped herself up in for her earlier nap - that she was silenced. Chloe turned to look Beca straight in the eyes, and asked;

“How the hell have you got into a state like this?”

That was when Beca burst into tears.

\---

It turned out that Chloe’s suitcase was not filled with clothes, as Beca had assumed it would be. Instead, the battered designer case was filled with British fruit tea, some out of season strawberries and an expensive imported bottle of gin; a combination which Beca found strange until Chloe pulled out a chipped teapot from some corner of her bag and proceeded to make a rather potent fruit-tea gin cocktail. Chloe was a little quiet as she bustled about the unfamiliar kitchen, shooting concerned glances at Beca - but she hadn’t pushed her to talk.

Once her friend was settled on a clean-ish corner of the sofa with a glass of the sweet alcoholic tea, however, Beca realised that Chloe would not be allowing her to simply gloss over her heartbroken emotional state. With her tumbling auburn curls pinned into a ponytail and her sparkling blue eyes unusually cold, Chloe looked more severe than Beca remembered her.

Thinking back to their first, chance meeting at the activities fair, Beca felt a hitch in her chest as she realised that she’d never thanked Chloe for having faith in her, right from the beginning. With hindsight she could see that Chloe had had her back at every single turn, for better and worse - but back then all Beca had been thinking about was LA and her obsession with Jesse Swanson. The memories all came rushing back and Beca swallowed another sob, folding in on herself until Chloe slid her arms around her and held her whilst she gasped for air. Beca finally managed to pull her thoughts together enough to form a coherent sentence, stuttering over her words;

“You know Jesse was cheating on me whilst we were in Europe, right?”

\---

He’d been waiting for her at the airport when she arrived back in Atlanta. After 22 hours-worth of flights, Beca certainly hadn’t been feeling her very brightest, so seeing his face as she walked into the arrivals lounge gave her something of a shock to the system. More than that though, was the bouquet of flowers and the full on kiss that he greeted her with, much to the entertainment of the rest of the Bellas. She felt relief, a feeling of; _oh, it’s good to be back_ when she saw him, the same feeling she’d felt as she first disembarked onto American soil; _oh yes, this is what home feels like_. And Beca was surprised that she felt so strongly, so pleased to be back at Barden, back in the same place as Jesse. She figured, in a quiet, confident corner of her brain, that she’d managed to figure everything out, and after only a year at college. She had aced her first year of classes, been elected (well, kind of) as the leader of a national championship winning collegiate a cappella group, and her boyfriend was one of the sweetest, most charming boys on campus. It was all working out so well.

And that’s why Jesse’s confession, later that night was quite so damning.

\---

Chloe had known that Beca was in a bad state when she left New York and headed to Atlanta. The upside of teaching in an expensive, private theatre school was that the holiday allowance was large, and there was no need for her to stay at the school whilst the kids were away on trips. A concerned Stacie had contacted Chloe and Aubrey to let them know that Beca hadn’t organised any auditions for new Bellas even two months into the new academic year, which unleashed a whole chain of events that culminated in Chloe turning up on Beca’s doorstep just a few days later. Personally, Chloe thought Beca was getting off lightly, with just her arriving on this impromptu visit - Aubrey had been so mad when she’d heard the news, that Chloe had been convinced that she was going to jump into her car and drive all the way to Atlanta right then and there. As far as Aubrey was concerned, the Bellas came first, no matter how bad any break-up had been.

Chloe saw things a little differently, and had spent the short plane ride from NYC feeling sorry for Beca. Chloe had never known, actually **known** that Jesse was cheating on Beca, but when she’d spoken to Stacie on Skype and heard her outline of what had happened when the girls had returned from London, there was a little part of her that just wasn’t surprised. She’d never doubted that Beca _liked_ Jesse, and she could even accept that the two made a compatible couple - but there was _something_ , just _something_ which meant that Chloe never quite trusted him. Maybe it was the way that he didn’t hesitate to call Beca’s dad after the window-breaking incident at regionals, or maybe it was that he reminded Chloe of an older, attractive ex-boyfriend of her own who turned out to be (urgh!) married, but either way, Chloe had never quite endorsed the relationship between the head Bella and the new head Treble.

When she’d tried to talk to Beca about it, she was frustrated at every turn. Any calls to Beca’s cell from either her or Aubrey were directed straight to voicemail, and every email that Chloe sent was replied to in overly-chirpy language, with none of Beca’s standard wit and sarcasm. It wasn’t so much what she was hearing which was causing Chloe to worry about her friend - it was what was lacking. Beca had given up her slot at the local radio station, she’d cancelled a paying gig at a favourite local student bar, and the rest of the Barden Bellas were feeling lost and helpless without their usually driven leader.

After she’d managed to convince Aubrey that driving from New York to Georgia just to give Beca a typical Aubrey talking to was a bad idea, she booked a flight, hoping that a weekend visit to see Beca would reassure both her and Aubrey. And maybe a night out back in those favourite venues that she hadn’t visited since her graduation would be the perfect way to perk Beca up a little, too.

\---

But now that she was there, Chloe wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to get Beca out of this heart-broken spiral at all. In fact, Chloe had never seen anyone acting quite this pathetically over a boy. She had always had such a steady stream of admirers that she was never heartbroken for long, and Aubrey had never let any guy get under her skin, either. Looking around Beca’s flat, Chlo saw no evidence that the younger girl was really living at all. Her travel-bag from Europe hadn’t been unpacked, so it looked like Beca was ready to run away at a moment’s notice, and the kitchen was a mess of pizza boxes and take-away menus and mostly empty bottles of wine which Beca was downing before trying to sleep.

She’d managed to persuade Beca to take a shower by teasing her lightly about how much more amazing her singing voice sounded in the communal showers where they’d first dueted, and she had even jokingly asked if Beca wanted company for another shower duet. B’s soft, heavy smile almost cut Chloe in two - making her rage at Jesse rise up all over again. Beca had only told Chloe the short version of what Jesse had done - but that was enough to persuade Chloe that the next time she saw him, he’d likely be on the receiving end of a kick to the balls for the way he had messed Beca around. She shook her head, still struggling to believe than anyone could be so stupid as to sleep with a student journalist and not expect it to be splashed all over campus just a few days later. _Well, he never was the **sharpest** tool in the toolbox_ , she thought to herself.

Chloe grabbed a change of clothes from her bag and quickly stripped in the middle of the deserted living room, hoping that she could pull on a new outfit whilst Beca was still in the bathroom. After a lot of convincing, Beca had agreed to a night out with Chloe, just the two of them - but it was on the proviso that they wouldn’t go to any of the hangouts that Jesse or the Trebels frequented. Chloe had had a brainwave and remembered Lul-Lu’s, the little dive of a gay-bar which ran ladies only nights - and as luck would have it, tonight’s event was only open to the female student population.

\--

Thinking about the first time that she and Aubrey stumbled into Lu-Lu’s, Chloe was transported back to her freshman year. The two girls had been out at their first ever riff-off, and were high on the atmosphere of the event. The Bellas hadn’t won (unsurprisingly) but there had been a charge in their mindset, a feeling of ‘we really belong here’. Chloe remembered the way that Aubrey had looked at her as their voices entwined, eyes shining with a belief, confidence. This is ours. We did this. It was this feeling (along with Aubrey’s insistence that they **must** stick to the rules, and thus no fraternising with the enemy Trebles) that made the two of them break off from the rest of the group. Chloe pressured Aubrey into sneaking one of the shared bottles of wine under her shirt and the two of them sat under the bleachers, sipping it and whispering about the overheard conversations above them until it was gone. Tipsy Aubrey had always entertained Chloe - she wanted to dance, but as freshmen, they didn’t really know which places would let them in without ID. Undeterred, Chloe followed a quirky looking girl along a few deserted streets, Aubrey on her arm, until they came upon this little bar with a hanging neon sign and dance-pop mashups playing loudly.

It wasn’t until she was at the bar, buying herself a soda and a bottle of water to help sober Aubrey up that Chloe realised that the entire place was filled with women - and some of them were flirting with each other, or kissing on the dance floor, or ducking into the bathroom in pairs. She looked around and shrugged, deciding to keep her realisation to herself - the music was good, and they hadn’t been ID’ed - but she wasn’t sure how Aubrey would react to her best friend getting her drunk and then taking her to a lesbian bar.

They had a brilliant night though - dancing until the small hours, and eventually sharing a taxi back to their halls with an attractive senior and her girlfriend, even if Chloe did have to stumblingly clarify that she and Aubrey weren’t _together_ as they all got out of the taxi. But their enjoyment was enough that the girls continued to go back on a semi-regular basis; if a party got too dull, or another club wouldn’t accept their fake ID’s, Lu-Lu’s would always be the destination of choice. They never told anyone else though, Chloe thought - she only ever went with Aubrey, and she could guess that their occasional nights at Atlanta’s best known lesbian nightspot were probably the cause of the rumour that she and Aubrey were more than ‘just friends’ ...

Chloe was still pondering this - whether some of the other patrons of Lu-Lu’s envisioned her and Aubrey as a secretive couple, too afraid to be open about their sexuality - when Beca returned from the bathroom. Chloe heard the squeak of the bathroom door and breathed “oh, shit...”, before realising there was no way she was going to be able to get redressed before Beca walked in.

\---

So that’s how Beca found Chloe standing in the middle of her living room wearing nothing more than a pair of black lace french panties and a matching round-cup bra. The underwear stood out against the older girl’s silky skin, and Beca couldn’t help but stare. She was entranced by the smooth curve of her neck intersected by the junction of her collarbones, and the rise of Chloe’s breasts spilling over the top of the sexy bra. A dusky pink blush rose across her body as she felt Beca staring, appraising her almost naked body.

“Ughh - sorry Beca - I was getting changed and I got a little distracted - I just need to quickly chuck some clothes on...” Chloe trailed off, reminded suddenly of the morning the year before, where she’d heard someone singing in the shower and just had to know who it was, just _had_ to make them join the Bellas. That day she’d been completely naked, and she knew that Beca had definitely sneaked a look at her body, still damp from the water - but this felt completely different. _We were just singing together before_ , Chloe reasoned. _I was just trying to do the best thing for the Bellas._

\---

Chloe was at the bar ordering a couple of bottles of beers and some shots, and despite looking the part, Beca really wasn’t feeling up to a night on the town. Trying to find something to wear which was both clubbing-suitable and didn’t completely hang off her had almost made her break down in tears again, and even now, dressed in high waisted shorts and a slouchy top, Beca just didn’t feel confident.

Glancing over at Chloe, who was leaning over the bar, chatting animatedly to the petite brunette bartender, Beca couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. _Why am I doing this to myself?_ she wondered. _He was just a boy. Just. A. Boy. And now I’m miserable and my friends are worried about me and that fucking bartender has made Chloe smile more in five minutes than I have in the hours that she’s been here - but fuck... I just never expected him to hurt me so badly._ Beca felt the hot salty tears rise behind her eyes once again, and she shook her head, willing herself not to cry. _For fuck’s sake.... Get a fucking grip, Mitchell._ She looked over to Chloe again, just in time to catch the bartender reaching over the counter to give back the change, before sliding her hand up Chlo’s arm, gently repositioning the bra strap which had fallen from Chloe’s shoulder.

The imagery of it caught in Beca’s throat, and she was suddenly transported back to the scene in her apartment earlier, coming out of the first shower she’d had in days to find her attractive friend standing immobile in the middle of her living room, hairbrush in hand, wearing nothing but her underwear. It had caught Beca unaware, and she couldn’t help but stare at Chloe - the smooth expanse of skin interrupted by the lacy black panties, the edge of her breasts straining at the bra - all soft and rounded and feminine looking, so different to the current hard edges of Beca’s own slimmer than usual body. She felt her breathing catch in her chest - Chloe was just so beautiful, and as the other girl started gabbling about needing a few minutes to change and did she have any hairspray she could borrow, Beca realised that she should probably stop staring at the light sprinkling of freckles across Chloe’s shoulders. She shook her head as to try and dispel the thought that she’d just had:

_She has freckles like that **everywhere**._

\---

By the time Chloe returned to their table, ladened down with bottles of beer and a tray of shots, Beca was thankful to have just about managed to stop reliving their shower encounter from the year before. It felt a little strange for the two girls to be hanging out without Aubrey or any of the other Bellas, but when Chlo had asked her if she wanted to invite Stacie or Amy, Beca had shaken her head vehemently - she’d just about accepted that Chloe wasn’t going anywhere until she was satisfied she was okay, but that didn’t mean she wanted to rest of the Bellas to join her pity-party. Shaking her head to clear the last of her daydreams about how perfect her freshman year had been, Beca put on a fake smile and decided to try, really try to make an effort with Chloe.   

“So, tell me about New York! And the job? What about Aubrey - is she enjoying bossing everyone else around now that she’s a project manager? Tell me _everything_!”

Chloe grinned at her, glad to hear at least a semblance of the old Beca still in there, somewhere.

“I’ll fill you in on all the goss, B - but first: Shots!”

\---

It didn’t take much to get her drunk, Beca thought woozily an hour or so and three bottles of beer later. The bar had started to get busy, and she and Chloe had more or less given up on trying to catch up on the events of the previous few months. Between the buzzing atmosphere and thumping music, it was starting to get harder to hear one another speak, and so Chloe had to lean over and shout into Beca’s ear to communicate.

“I’m going to the restroom!” Chloe laughed into Beca’s ear. “Get the next round of drinks in?”

They’d long since given up their table spot, and Beca felt a little conspicuous as she leant against the cool bar, waiting for the bartender to come and serve her. She hated to admit it, but bitching about Jesse’s infidelity to Chlo had lifted the weight off of her heart a little, and she was enjoying the buzz of the alcohol in her system. She’d almost forgotten how entertaining her older friend was, and Chloe’s impersonations of kids at her school and even her stories about how Aubrey had progressed from office junior to project manager in just a few months had taken her mind off of her problems almost completely. She even allowed herself to smile a little as she imagined how disapproving Aubrey would be of them both if she was here now.

“She must be pretty hot if she’s got you smiling like that just thinking about her...”

The words in Beca’s ear made her flush, and she turned, confused, to see who was talking to her. She was unsettled to see it was the same bartender that Chloe had been giggling with earlier, the slim brunette whose hair was coaxed into an intricate faux-hawk that highlighted her high cheekbones and pouting mouth. Her confusion must have been visible, because the other girl bent forward to speak again:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you... but your little smile really makes a girl curious. You know, I haven’t seen you around here before - you must be a freshman, right? Here, let me get you a drink.”

She beckoned the bartender over, and motioned for a couple of beers. Feeling paralysed, Beca accepted the cool bottle, smiling her thanks and taking a long swig before replying. While she didn’t want to chat to this girl she didn’t know, Beca understood Chloe’s advice: “You need to get back out there. Stop feeling too sorry for yourself”, and tried to remember just how to socialise.

“No, I’m a sophomore - I just don’t usually come to places like this...” Beca’s sentence trailed off as she realised how her words could be taken. “I mean, I’ve never been here before; I didn’t even know this place was here.” She struggled to find the words to convey what she meant. “Chloe... my friend... she thought we’d have a good time here.”

The other girl seemed to be laughing at her. “I’m sure she did. I think I remember her - the redhead, right? Used to come here quite a lot with an up-tight blond with a smoking body?” She licked her lips before continuing. “They would come in and get more than a few people a little hot and bothered with their dancing...”

Beca was incapacitated by the revelation that this girl recognised Chloe, remembered her being here with Aubrey, of all people. She couldn’t imagine neat, organised Aubrey being in this dive of a bar, let alone winding up the _lesbian_ clientele with her dance moves. Filing the snippet of information away in a section of her brain, she took another long swallow of her beer, and smiled broadly at the bartender. A small, quiet voice in her head told Beca that this girl was flirting with her, and it was probably the beer and the jealousy that she felt before which made her lean back in towards her and place her hand in the small of her back as she answered:

“Yeah, I guess that would have been Chlo, but it’s me she’s brought here today... Maybe it’ll be me driving you all wild with my moves now?”

\---

Chloe swiped her the clear gloss across her lips more out of habit than necessity, sighing at how long the queue for the bathroom was - she hoped Beca wasn’t annoyed at how long she’d been gone for. She was still worried about the younger girl - of course - but the alcohol and companionship seemed to have perked her up a little, and she hoped to help Beca organise some Bella auditions before she left. Chloe couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for B - if it wasn’t for her, Beca would never have joined the Bellas, and with both her and Aubrey now in New York, it couldn’t be easy for Beca to manage the group and deal with her heartache all at the same time. Shaking out her long curls, she straightened her shirt and prepared to return to the noisy bar and find Beca.

She spotted her almost as soon as she left the restroom; she was in the middle of the dance floor, dancing hip-to-hip with the bartender who had served Chloe with a wry smile earlier on in the evening. The two girls were the same height, and they moved body against body to the music, the bartender’s hand around B’s neck, keeping their movements synchronized. Chloe  ducked away from where they could have seen her, until she was watching their dancing from the relative safety of the bar. She felt better once she had another bottle of beer in her hand, but there was something unsettling about watching from the sidelines. She didn’t mind that Beca had decided to dance, but there was a small drop in her stomach as she watched the bartender slide her hands down the curves of Beca’s body, and a strange sick feeling as she saw Beca throw her head back, eyes closed to the sensation.

She turned away from the dancefloor, suddenly disgusted with herself. She’d come here to try and get Beca out of this Jesse funk, and now that B was enjoying herself, Chloe was starting to get pissy? She shook her head, tried to put herself in Beca’s shoes. Chloe had brought her here, to a lesbian bar, and then left her to fend for herself with the advice to put herself out there more - no wonder she’d jumped in when someone asked her to dance. She sighed, and turned back to the dancefloor - just in time to see the bartender grab the back of Beca’s head and drop her lips towards B’s face. Chloe’s heart almost stopped, until she saw Beca frantically pushing the bartender away, trying to get her hands free, twisting their bodies apart.

\--

Beca couldn’t be any more pleased to see the Chloe’s red curls when she glimpsed the other girl coming towards her on the dancefloor. Kat - the bartender - had been fun to dance with, but as the music had gotten louder, she’d pulled her closer and closer until Beca just couldn’t find a way to escape. When she’d pounced on her, grabbing her face and trying to kiss her, Beca pulled away forcefully. It wasn’t that she was adverse to kissing girls _per se_ , but it felt wrong, somehow, to have come here with Chloe and now be making out with some _stranger_ on the dancefloor. She stumbled backwards, aware of the angry, disappointed look on Kat’s face and tried to think of a way to placate her.

“I’m sorry,” she offered. “I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.” Beca mentally cursed herself, knowing that she’d been giving the ‘wrong impression’ all along. “It’s just... I mean...” It’s then that Beca saw Chloe coming towards her, and she flashed the other girl a _rescue me_ look. “I’m really only here with my --”

“Girlfriend.” Chloe cut in, finishing Beca’s sentence for her. She smiled at both girls, before grabbing the hand of the bartender and shaking it firmly. She snuck a quick glance at Beca and almost snorted at her gobsmacked expression, before planting a soft kiss on the very edge of her mouth and saying mischievously,

“Right, babe?”

\---

By the time they got home, it was well after 4am and starting to get light. They’d maxed out the limit on Chloe’s credit card, buying round after round of drinks, alternating their time between the bar and the dancefloor, Chloe squealing “this is my _lady jam_ ” when _Titanium_ inevitably came on. Something had switched after Chloe had joined Beca on the dancefloor; Kat had quickly made her excuses and the two girls had descended into giggles at the look on her face when Chloe had come over and introduced herself. Beca felt better than she had in ages - months - and walking home with Chloe, she allowed herself to ramble a little about plans for future Bella arrangements and choreography and even imagined how proud Aubrey would be if she came to see the regional heats and they managed to absolutely smash the Trebels. Even the thought of having to sing against Jesse in the riff-off didn’t phase her.

Once they were back in Beca’s apartment, they shared the bathroom and change into pajamas all whilst still giggling and joking about their night. _The booze definitely helps_ , Chloe thought to herself, _but Beca just needs to **talk** to me more. That’s the only way that she’s going to be able to handle all of this..._ She took a look at the other girl, now brushing her teeth lazily. Chloe took stock of the fact that Beca’s pajamas were a pair of boys boxer shorts ( _what’s the betting that they’re Jesse’s?_ ) and an unravelling vest top, and sighed.

“I really miss you, you know Beca?” Chloe said wistfully, before cutting herself off, deciding not to get into a drunken deep and meaningful with the girl who earlier, couldn’t go an hour without welling up about her wanker ex-boyfriend. “It’s hard to believe that this time last year we’d only just met.” She trailed off again, feeling her own emotions start to build.

“Hey, come on Chlo, don’t get all nostalgic on me now!” Beca called Chloe out. “This time last year you were probably cornering me in a shower cubicle and demanding I show you how high my belt went!” Chloe laughed awkwardly at the memory, raising her hands to hide her face. “Oh god, I’d almost forgotten I said that... Why did you even indulge me?” She looked up through her fingers as Beca finished brushing her hair and turned to face her.

“Honestly?” Beca paused, her voice deepened by alcohol and a quiet recollection. “You were hot, and kinda popular, and the way you looked at me...” Beca shook her head. “You were very... compelling.”

The two girls stood quietly for a moment, drunkenly trying to read each other’s faces. Chloe’s heart was beating at what felt like a million miles a minute - the thought that Beca had found her _compelling_ \- not just talented or sexy or confident, but _compelling_ \- it seemed to be far more of a compliment than it should have been. In the end it was Beca who broke the silence, dropping her head and saying in a self-deprecating manner,

“And I was just a naked freshman with a love of David Guetta. How could I have turned you down?”

\--

Beca was suddenly very aware that Chloe was going to have to sleep on her sofa, in the middle of the piles of trash and dirty laundry and school books that littered her living room. Grabbing the spare duvet and blankets from the cupboard in her room, she started apologising to the other girl. “I’m so sorry Chlo, if I’d known you were coming I would have tidied, I swear, it’s just really not been at the top of my list of priorities at the moment, and with no-one else living here, it didn’t seem to _matter_ , you know?” She ditched the bed linen onto the sofa and started to brush crumbs onto the floor, whilst Chloe hovered by the door, yawning. “Fuck it. The sofa isn't very comfortable anyway, and these blankets smell a bit... musty. Why don’t you just come crash with me? My bed’s a king, there’s plenty of space for two?” Beca stopped babbling and looked up at her friend, who directed a coy smile in her direction.

“Share a bed with you, Beca Mitchell? How do I know that you’re not going to jump me in my sleep?” Chloe teased.

“Well, seeing as I’m apparently _your girlfriend_ , I didn’t think you’d mind!”

\--

Curled up in Beca’s bed, Chloe tried to work out exactly when the balance of power had changed over the course of the evening. Beca still sounded sad - her soft “good night” had conveyed both how grateful she was to have Chloe there, but also her struggle to hold it all together - and yet, there was slightly more of _Beca_ in there than when Chloe had first arrived. Whilst she was glad - Chloe hated to see any of her friends upset - it also made Chloe feel a little strange. Being alone with Beca was starting to feel like walking a tightrope line between friendship and something far more inappropriate.

Chloe already knew that she’d struggle to sleep - she always did when sharing a bed with someone else (with Aubrey being the notable exception) - but she didn’t expect it to be so difficult to relax with Beca laid right next to her. It felt like her senses were on hyper-alert, her breathing matched to Beca’s, her ears pricked to every sound, each sigh that Beca made, fireworks going off behind her eyes everytime she closed them. Chloe tried to slow her mind down, turning onto her side and staring across the bed to where Beca lay, eyes closed, mouth relaxed. There was something about the way that Beca looked - so open, so much potential - that had Chloe in a spin. She rolled over again and sighed, trying to tell herself that she needed to stop drinking so much - and hell, she needed to find a boyfriend before she legitimately started considering hitting on one of her closest friends.

Beca must have felt Chloe turn over, because she sleepily snuggled up behind the other girl. She moved languidly, and her warm limbs came to rest just barely touching Chloe. Chloe laid incredibly still, barely breathing, for some reason desperate to keep that contact between them, and yet at the same time trying to persuade herself to move away. Beca’s legs were just pressed up against the back of her thighs, and the warmth radiating from the other girl’s body felt blistering, burning. Chloe felt Beca shift again, and then felt a tentative hand move to the back of her neck, a touch so light that she might have imagined it. Beca wound a strand of Chloe’s curly hair around her finger and gently pulled, an action that was somewhere between platonic and  sexual, and yet the feeling caused Chloe to exhale, sharply, and it was as though that was the signal that Beca needed to continue.

Beca ran her index finger down the side of Chloe’s neck, drawing patterns behind her ear and sliding her finger over the soft hairs at the nape of her neck so softly, and then drawing her nails across the slope of Chloe’s shoulder. Unable to hold it any longer, Chloe exhaled a long, shuddering breath and Beca stopped. The intense desperation for her to continue caused Chloe to make a small, weak mewling sound that even she didn’t recognise, and then, suddenly, she felt Beca’s lips softly pressing against the side of her throat.

The feeling of Beca kissing her neck sent Chloe over the edge, and the mewling sound turned into a long, drawn out moan.

“Beca...” Chloe whispered. “What are you... what are we doing?”

“Shhh....” Beca’s response was muffled against the back of Chloe’s neck, and Chloe would have protested, if not for the fact that Beca was sliding her hands under the oversized t-shirt that Chloe was wearing. She continued pressing light kisses against the back of her neck, but it was her hands, weaving up her back, trailing across her side that was making Chloe’s heart-rate soar. When her hand skimmed over the other girl’s stomach, drifting up to the underside of her breasts, then Chloe really moaned - a desperate _please_ which caught both girls off guard.

\--

The way that Chloe responded to her touch was making Beca incredibly wet. The sound of her moaning when Beca ran her hand over her midriff, the way she arched her back into her, trying to force Beca to touch more, higher, faster... It made Beca heady with desire. The way that her friend was absolutely surrendering to her touch drove her wild and she shuddered, trying to keep enough self-restraint to not just roll her over and fuck her right there. She started kissing Chloe along the contour of her neck, rolling wet kisses which trailed from the top of her shoulder right up to her jawline, all whilst running her hand further up her body. She paused once she reached the warm arc of Chloe’s breast - feeling that this was the last opportunity they’d have to stop, once she’d felt the warm weight of her breasts, once she’d rolled her sensitive nipples in her hands - there would be no possible way of taking it back. But when Chloe twisted her body and pressed back against Beca, she couldn’t wait any longer.

If Beca thought that Chloe’s response to her kisses was hot, it was nothing to what happened when Beca cupped her breast in her hand, lightly drawing her fingers over the other girl’s burning skin. Chloe shuddered and began a chanting chorus of “oh god, oh god” until Beca drew her fingertips across her nipple, lightly squeezing and Chloe just collapsed against her.

\--

When Beca finally brought her hands up to Chloe’s boobs, the feeling was so agonisingly wonderful that Chloe genuinely thought she might stop breathing. It didn’t matter that Beca was her friend, not anymore - by now, the sexual energy had permeated all the way through her body and she was frenzied, willing Beca to stop fooling around and just fucking touch her. When her hand stopped teasing her nipple, Chloe whimpered slightly, before hearing Beca command,

“Here. Now.”

Once Chloe was facing Beca, all of the old boundaries were gone. In seconds, Chloe had wrapped her arms around the brunette’s neck and was kissing her desperately - nipping at her lips and tasting her - and Beca was responding with equal fervour. “Ohhh fuck, Beca,” Chloe groaned into her mouth, and Beca paused, looking directly into her eyes,

“Yes, Chlo... We will.”

\--

Beca was unused to losing control in the bedroom, but Chloe’s body pressing against her made her absolutely fucking crazy, and her kisses made her feel like she was running out of oxygen. She peeled Chloe off of her, and flung the sheets from both of them. Sitting up, she could see Chloe’s slightly swollen lips and lust-glazed eyes, and the absolute desire written all over her face sent a shiver down Beca’s spine.

“I want you. Naked. Now.”

There was no need to tell Chloe twice, and within seconds she had completely removed her t-shirt and panties, and pulled Beca into a frantic kiss.

“Please, B, please...”

Chloe trailed off, but Beca didn’t need to hear any more. She pushed Chloe down into the pillows and took a lingering look at her long, toned body, drinking in the heaving collarbones, hard nipples, tensed thighs - she never expected to get the chance to do this, not with Chloe.

Chloe was twisting the bedsheets between her clenched fists as Beca kissed her way across collarbones, the prairies of her decolletage, all whilst Beca gently stroked down the side of her body, sometimes running her palms across Chloe’s nipples, but mostly just missing, causing her breath to hitch and her body to writhe. She went still when Beca bent over her body, taking a nipple into her warm mouth and just lapping at it, until she heard Chloe sigh, and then she sucked, hard, and was rewarded by a sharp moan. Beca made it her aim to achieve more of those hot, surprised moans from Chloe, and moved her fingers to the other nipple, alternately running her fingers around it in circles and squeezing it roughly until Chloe cried out.

Watching Chloe bite her lip as she manipulated her nipples was making Beca feel light-headed. She kept her eyes on Chloe’s face as she trailed her fingers away from her breasts, down across her toned stomach, pausing as Chloe splayed her legs, tilting her hips up towards Beca’s waiting hand.

“You really want this?” Beca asked, slowly running her hands between Chloe’s legs. “You really want me to fuck you, Chloe? Slide my fingers into your cunt?”

The words only encouraged Chloe, arching her back and drawing her nails down Beca’s arms, and so Beca tilted her hand, searching out Chloe’s slick entrance. Feeling how wet she was made Beca moan, and she lowered her head to Chloe’s neck and roughly kissed the soft skin there whilst slowly pressing a single finger into her waiting cunt. Chloe’s response was unbelievable, her whole body tense and waiting, shuddering as Beca pulled her hand away and added another finger, forcing her legs further apart as she started to pick up a rhythm, driving her palm against her clit.

Just fucking Chloe wasn’t enough. Beca slid in between Chloe’s quivering legs, allowing the redhead to feel how fucking wet she was as Beca straddled her thigh. From there, she resumed her attack on Chloe’s nipples, using her mouth to abuse them, whilst at the same time building pressure on her clit with her thumb. Angling her hand to fuck her as hard as possible, Beca began to up the tempo until Chloe’s hips were bucking and she could hear her starting to mutter a long string of expletives under her breath. Beca could tell Chloe’s climax was close, and she seriously didn’t want to be done with fucking her, but she could see how badly Chloe needed this. Barely breaking pace, she lowered herself between Chloe’s legs and gently lapped at her clit whilst her fingers continued their constant rhythm. That was it; Beca’s tongue on her clit and her fingers in her cunt and the feeling of her body in between her legs and suddenly Chloe was coming. Hard.

\---

Beca didn’t realise that watching Chloe orgasm around her fingers would drive her quite so close to coming herself, but it did. Chloe was still on the way down from her fucking when Beca admitted to herself that she really needed to fucking come already, pulled off her shorts and started to touch herself. She was so ready to slide her fingers into her own cunt that when Chloe grabbed her hand and stopped her, she almost slapped her away. Instead, she moaned a low growl which conveys her need to Chloe pretty adequately, and was rewarded when Chloe shimmied down her body and planted herself in between Beca’s legs.

“I’ve never done this before,” Chloe admitted, quietly, her hand trailing, so lightly, along the entrance to Beca’s cunt. She was so tentative that Beca wanted to scream, but at the first touch of Chloe’s tongue on her clit, everything else fell away. The way that Beca tasted was intoxicating to Chloe, and her inhibitions quickly disappeared as she realised how easy it was to make Beca moan. Her tongue was dancing across Beca’s clit, and she was so wet that when Chloe went to tease her with her fingers, there was no way that she couldn’t start fucking her. The feeling of Chloe’s fingers inside her tipped Beca over the edge, and suddenly she was coming uncontrollably, and Chloe was not stopping and Beca’s orgasm rolled in on itself until her whole body was shaking and her vision cut to almost nothing... And then Chloe had the audacity to ask, playfully;

“Was that okay?”

\---

Beca was already up and dressed when Chloe woke up - with sore muscles but seriously rested - the next morning. She bustled into the bedroom with a cup of coffee for Chloe, and for a moment, Chloe didn’t want to meet her eye. Beca watched her sit up and pull the sheet around her, before laughing gently.

“You are aware that I’ve already seen you naked, right Chlo?”

\---

 

**Author's Note:**

> My first (and probably only) BeChloe fic. Thanks to Stacey / Ace / [glasscanonlyspill](http://glasscanonlyspill.tumblr.com/) for beta-ing.
> 
> Sequel: [_Feelings Like These_ found here.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/800612)


End file.
